CONFIRMED: All Arrowverse Shows Renewed

The CW has officially renewed all shows in the fan favorite Arrowverse TV family. Broadcasting Cable reports CW President Mark Pedowitz made the announcements during the TCA  (Television Critics Association) Winter 2019 Press Tour. The shows were among the 10 announced renewals for the 2019-2020 season.

“This season, we expanded our primetime schedule to six nights with the addition of Sunday — which has been an unqualified success for the network, our affiliates and our advertisers,” said Pedowitz. “In addition to growing our schedule across the week, we also continue to add more year-round programming. The early renewal of these signature CW series gives us a head start on laying out the 2019-2020 season, and this is just the beginning.”

Usually renewals are not announced until early Spring, so this year’s early announcement does show CW’s approval of all the shows’ ratings.

This will put Arrow at Season 8, The Flash at Season 6, Supergirl and Legends Of Tomorrow both at Season 5, and Black Lightning at Season 3. The pilot for Batwoman, which will center around Ruby Rose’s character introduced during last month’s crossover, will presumably air during that season as well.

 

 

Spider-Man Far From Home Trailer

At long last, the first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home has hit the interwebs. Check it out below, and check out our analysis of the trailer by clicking on the podcast link above.

Is this before or after Infinity War? There are a few clues within. Let us know what you think!

Avengers Endgame Trailer, Elseworlds Review

It’s a double whammy return to the airwave for Geekville Radio. Join Seth “Zandrax” Zillmann and “Crazy Train” Jonathan Bolick as they talk about the two giant stories in the comic superhero world.

Whammy #1 – The world is still buzzing over the first Avengers Endgame Trailer. What can we expect from some of the nuggets dropped in that teaser? How can Tony get saved? Could we see Rescue? Adam Warlock perhaps? And what about that reveal of Hawkeye as Ronin?

Whammy #2 – The CW did their annual “Arrowverse” crossover Elseworlds. While it was only three parts instead of the usual four, it did finally bring Lois Lane into the show, as well as introduced the CW viewers to Gotham City and Batwoman. With all the hints dropped at famous Batman villains, could we finally be seeing The Caped Crusader on CW Programming?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APl1IX34X50

All this and more in another fun-filled Geekville Radio

Examining The Doctor Episode 59: An Unearthly Child

Doctor Who celebrated it’s 55th Anniversary this week! In honor of this landmark moment, here is a link to the very first Doctor Who episode, An Unearthly Child.

001-An Unearthly Child-01.An Unearthly Child from garneck3 on Vimeo.

We’ve also linked our commentary track for the story, courtesy our podcast Examining The Doctor. Hosts Mark and Seth bring their signature blend of knowledge and humor to this all time classic story.

Don’t worry, just start the commentary first, and it will tell you when to start the TV episode. If you like what you hear, we have dozens more Doctor Who stories, both Classic and Modern (or “NewWho” to some fans), on our podcast Examining The Doctor.

Marvel and Star Wars Content for Disney, Red Dead Redemption 2

Geekville Radio #216: Marvel and Star Wars Content for Disney

Thanksgiving may be coming to a close, but that doesn’t stop Geekville Radio from talking some fun news about the news.

Several shows have been announced for the Disney streaming service. In the Star Wars corner, Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell in Game Of Thrones) has been cast as one of the main characters in Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian. Former MMA star Gina Carano (Deadpool and Deadpool 2) has also been cast, presumably as another Mandalorian.

Diego Luna will reprise the role of Cassian Andor in a yet untitled Rogue One prequel series. It is unclear how long before the Rogue One movie the series will take place in, or whether any of the other members of the film’s cast will be part of the show.

This is in addition to a seventh season of the fan favorite Clone Wars series, which will presumably depict the fates of several characters. Disney has already teased a reunion between Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker. Fans of the series may recall Ahsoka leaving the Jedi order in the final episode of Season Five.

On the Marvel front, a series starring Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier and Anthony Mackie as Falcon has been greenlit according to Slashfilm. This is in addition to a Scarlet Witch show with Elizabeth Olsen, and (perhaps the most anticipated) a Loki series with non other than Tom Hiddleston.

It is worth mentioning that all of these series look to be limited series, and not full seasons. So expect something more along the lines of a 4-8 episode season you might see on Netflix than the usual 22-26 episodes you might see on TV.

Marvel head Kevin Fiege will be directly involved in the series, which is not the case for Agents Of SHIELD on ABC. Coincidentally, Agents Of SHIELD has been renewed for a 7th season. Yes, you read that correctly. a SEVENTH season when the sixth hasn’t even aired yet.

Over in the DC side of things, James Gunn has officially been hired by Warner Bros. in a move that shouldn’t surprise many who have been following the story. Gunn will likely write and possibly direct Suicide Squad 2. Coincidentally, Disney will still be using Gunn’s script for Guardians Of The Galaxy 3.

The title of the long rumored Harley Quinn/Birds Of Prey film has been announced. The current official title is Birds Of Prey: And The Totally Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn.

Ewan McGregor has been cast as Black Mask, who will likely be the film’s central villain. Birds Of Prey has been a title over the years for a street-level female team. The team usually consists of some mixture of Huntress, Black Canary, Batgirl, an Catwoman. Poison Ivy and Harley have been in the series at different times.

In other Harley Quinn news, Alan Tudyk will be voicing The Joker in the animated Harley Quinn series for the DC streaming service. Kaley Cuoco will be Harley, and Diedrich Bader will reprise the role of Batman. He previously voiced Batman in Cartoon Network’s Brave And The Bold series.

In the final segment, Crazy Train reviews Red Dead Redemption 2. The long anticipated title has set a record for its opening weekend. With $725 million, the Western title beats out Avengers: Infinity War in opening weekend grossing.

This review may contain opinions that might not be the norm when talking about this massively popular game. In fact, the amount of realism of the game can be a deterrent at times. Take this headline

https://www.unilad.co.uk/gaming/red-dead-redemption-2-will-have-realistic-horse-testicle-physics/

Realistic? Yes. Fun? Maybe not so much…

All this and more in another fun-filled Geekville Radio!

As always we are on iTunes, Stitcher, and many of your favorite podcasts devices. Let us know what you think. Let us know what you want to hear! Give us a review if you can.

Geekville Radio #213: 10/26/2018

This episode of Geekville Radio is dedicated to the memory of Gary Kurtz. Who, with the exception of George Lucas himself, may be the man most responsible for Star Wars getting made.

RIP Gary Kurtz

He will obviously best known for Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, but he did have other titles to his credit. He also produced George’s first big hit, 1973’s American Graffiti, along with 1989’s Slipstream starring Mark Hamill and the late great Bill Paxton.

RIP Scott Wilson

Scott Wilson is probably best known to the current generation as Hershel in The Walking Dead. He was a regular series cast member in the first couple seasons. He also voiced Hershel for video game releases, and Robot Chicken. Hs career dates back to the mid 1960’s, and his first credited role according to IMDB is the original In The Heat Of The Night

Both Iron Fist and Luke Cage have been canceled by Netlfix

While it may not be surprising just for Iron Fist, fans were a little shocked at the cancellation of both Iron Fist and Luke Cage by Netflix. Both shows were well received, with Iron Fist almost universally praised as being a huge improvement over the first season. Especially when it comes to Finn Jones and fight choreography.

The big question is “Why both shows?”. Seth and Train can really only speculate, but there are a few possible reasons. Could this mean a Heroes For Hire show? Or even a Daughters Of The Dragon? And if so would it be for Netflix or Disney? Is it in either Netflix’s or Disney’s best interests to keep shows on Netflix, and not move them to Disney’s streaming service? And if they are Disney bound, than theoretically they could cross over with Agents Of SHIELD, another show that is rumored to move to Disney either next year or the year after.

On a side note, Seth and Train point out how Luke Cage can be considered the ‘White Meat Babyface” of the Netflix Marvel programming.

Kathleen Kennedy’s contract with LucasFilm has been renewed

Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Kathleen Kennedy will remain the president of Lucasfilm for at least three more years. There were rumors on other podcasts that she was on the chopping block and Disney was scrambling to find a replacement. That looks to not have been the case.

The only Star Wars movie currently in production is Episode IX. It will be the final “Episode”, and it will be marketed as such. There will be the aforementioned films by Game Of Thrones creators. Plus the Rian Johnson trilogy is still in development. So there will be no shortage of Star Wars on the big screen, despite the reported dialing back on films

One title that is absent from this list is the rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi film. We had reported a few months back that the film was set to begin filming in Ireland after Episode IX had wrapped. Just because that movie wasn’t mentioned, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is dead in the water.

When you look at the past films under her watch, several films did have some bumps along the way.

  • Rogue One went through a direction change, with Tony Gilroy taking over to adjust what Gareth Edwards had done. However Edwards maintained Director credit.
  • Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were outright fired from Solo and Ron Howard was hired to almost completely re-shoot the film. When you factor that in, it’s amazing it still made its release deadline.
  • Colin Trevorrow left Episode IX and got replaced by JJ

It seems the only movies that DIDN’T have troubles were with Abrams and Johnson.

Jon Favreau’s Series

In other Star Wars news, Jon Favreau’s series The Mandalorian has begun filming. It of course will be one of the flagship shows on Disney’s upcoming streaming service, now called Disney Play.

While no cast or characters have been announced, the premise will be a few years after Return of The Jedi, but well before The Force Awakens. There will be no First Order as of yet.

Budget for the first season is rumored to be at $100 million dollars. However, no specific number of episodes have been confirmed. But for what it’s worth there is a picture confirming George Lucas himself visiting the set.

Kevin Feige will oversee X-Men movies

On the subject of Disney, Hollywood Reporter has also stated Kevin Feige will be overseeing future X-Men movies with the Disney purchase of Fox. Disney’s Bob Iger gave some key answers to questions about Fox-owned properties in the MCU

I think it only makes sense,” Iger said. “I want to be careful here because of what’s been communicated to the Fox folks, but I think they know. It only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity. There shouldn’t be two Marvels.

When asked about talent

Very good question. We’re going to take the best people from both companies and that’s who’s gonna basically be on the playing field for us. Meaning, talent will prevail. Fox Searchlight is a great example. You look at FX, NatGeo. Yeah, you’re buying libraries and brands, but you’re also buying the people. I’m not gonna talk about specific people right now except to say that I’ve met with virtually the entire senior management team at Fox and I’m not only fully engaged with them on what the possibilities for them might be but I’m excited about the prospects.

It would stand to reason that many of the characters may get re-cast. As much as fans may want it, they probably shouldn’t hold their breath for an onscreen meeting between Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool.

The Next Spider-Man villain will be Mysterio

Jake Gyllenhaall was officially announced in the cast for Spider-Man Far From Home. He will be portraying Quentin Black, aka Mysterio. This will be the live-action film debut for the longtime Spider-Man villain. It’s also confirmed that Michael Keaton will be reprising the role of Adrian Toombs/Vulture. A leaked set photo shows Gyllenhaal in costume. Sadly, no “Fish Bowl Look”. At least not yet.

WB Crossover will be Elseworlds.

The annual CW “Flarrowverse” crossover will be titled Elseworlds. Entertainment Weekly reports that it will be a three part crossover, not the previous four part.

The Flash will kick it off on Sunday, which will be followed up by Arrow on Monday, and wrapped up with Supergirl  on Tuesday. This breaks the previous pattern of Supergirl having the first part in the last two years.

While there will be no regular involvement with the Legends Of Tomorrow cast, it has been revealed that Superman will join in, and Lois Lane will make her debut.

In an unexpected turn, an official internet poster showed Stephen Amell in the Flash costume, and Grant Gustin in the Green Arrow threads.

Also notable is the name Nora Fries in the cast of characters. Nora is of course the ill-fated wife of Victor Fries, aka Mr. Freeze. When you factor that this will also serve as the introduction to Batwoman, it may be an indicator to the premise of the Batwoman series.

Supergirl made a regular habit of taking lesser known villains from Superman lore, and adapting classic Superman stories to fit The Girl Of Steel. Could this mean we’ll see some Batman villains on the small screen for Batwoman? Time will tell.

Finally, Train talks the major news surrounding the release of the long anticipated Read Dead Redemption 2. IGN gave the game a perfect 10 score. An act that is incredibly rare.

Are you in the Halloween spirit yet? If you need anything to scratch your Halloween itch, check out the latest episode of Examining The Dead. Train reviews the movie Train To Busan, and talk the outcome of the Friday The 13th lawsuit. And of course, Dan Wilson talks his new horror themed production company One Good  Scare.

Crazy Train’s Halloween playlist is available on Spotify

Have any thoughts on these subjects? sound off below!

Daredevil Season 3 Trailer

There’s a new man Without Fear in town! At long last, Netflix has released a full trailer for the much anticipated third season of Daredevil.

When we last saw Matt Murdock, he was believed to have died with Elektra in the climactic finish of The Defenders. However, he was shown to be very much alive and in hiding in the final scene.

This season sees the main antagonist role return to Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin, played by Vincent D’Onofrio. Matt again dons the homemade black costume, and continues his vigilante ways. Why he has not reached out to his friends Foggy and Karen will probably have to wait until the season drops on October 19th.

As to who this imposter Daredevil is, Netflix may have spilled the beans. Actor Wilson Bethel has been confirmed to play Benjamin Poindexter, aka Bullseye. Smart money would seem to point to Bullseye making his Netflix debut impersonating The Man Without Fear.  Colin Farrell had previously played Bullseye in the 2003 feature film that starred current Batman Ben Affleck in the title role.

What did you think of the trailer? Are you excited to see another take on Daredevil vs. Bullseye?

Leaked Photo Spoils Future Of Captain America For Avengers 4?

A few photos have leaked from the set of the yet to be titled fourth Avengers film. The movie will of course be released in 2019 as a direct follow up to Avengers: Infinity War. If you’ve seen that film (and if you haven’t, why are you reading this?) you know that half the universe’s population is willed out of existence by Thanos.

Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and many of the other major players made the survive list, while Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Nick Fury weren’t so fortunate.

This Week In Geek News September 3, 2018

In the latest chapter in the ongoing controversy for Guardians Of The Galaxy 3, the movie is reported to be on hold after Disney made the decision to not reinstate director James Gunn. Dave Bautista has stated that he isn’t sure he wants to return.

“They’re putting the movie off. It’s on hold indefinitely. To be honest with you, I don’t know if I want to work for Disney.”

Meanwhile, Gunn has reportedly been approached by several other studios for projects.

Warner Bros. is making not one, not two, but at least three movies involving The Joker.

1. Suicide Squad 2 has been announced for some time, but no release date, writer, or director have been revealed. Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, and Will Smith are all slated to return.

2. Also part of the DC Movie Universe will be an as of yet untitled Joker/Harley movie that would further explore the relationship between Joker and Harley Quinn. Leto and Robbie would likely return for that film that has been described as “When Harry Met Sally On Benzedrine”.

On top of that, an untitled Joker origin movie with Joaquin Phoenix and produced by Martin Scorsese. Set for an October 9th, 2019 release with a budget of $55 million dollars, it will be unrelated to any of the previous DC movie incarnations. Todd Phillips of The Hangover fame is set to direct. Alec Baldwin had been announced as Thomas Wayne, but reportedly backed out a few days later. Will this confuse fans like it did when Rogue One was released?

Also on the docket, a possible Birds Of Prey movie. Margot Robbie has reportedly expressed desire to portray Harley in her own standalone film. Birds Of Prey has been a title for DC that involved an all-female cast in various incarnations over the years. Harley has been part of the group in the comics since her turn as a more anti-hero type character. Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) is set to direct off a Christina Hodson (Bumblebee) story. It is yet to be announced whether the film will feature Leto as Joker.

As mentioned during the show, Vin Diesel has quite the affinity for Dungeons And Dragons.

All this and more in another fun filled Geekville Radio!

Nostalgia Trip: The Dukes Of Hazzard (1979-1985)

It’s the last show of the month. And to be a little different, we are debuting a new segment. We like to call it Geekville Radio’s Nostalgia Trip. The debut edition of Geekville Radio’s Nostalgia Trip is devoted to the classic 1980s TV show The Dukes Of Hazzard. Seth “Zandrax” Zillmann and “Crazy Train” Jonathan Bolick talk the history of the show and why it is so iconic almost 40 years later.

As ardent fans know, Dukes was actually spun off of a 1975 feature film Moonrunners, which had a very similar vibe. Both that film and the TV series were created by Gy Waldron, and are based on the stories of Jerry Rushing. Crazy Train provides a brief course in moonshine whiskey and moonshine running.

How well do you know the background of Bo, Luke, Daisy, and Uncle Jesse? No matter your level of Dukes fandom, you might learn a few things. Which Duke was a Vietnam Vet? Which was a star football player in high school?

And of course, what good are the heroes without the villains? JD “Boss” Hogg, Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane, Deputies Enos Strate and Cledus Hogg made up the recurring antagonists for The Duke family. Then of course there were the out of town strangers that would be up to no good each week.

You knew trouble was coming to Hazzard when you saw a basic Plymouth Fury riding into town.

Seth and Train also dive into the 1982-83 season which had the controversial replacement Dukes, Coy and Vance.

But perhaps most importantly, they talk the vehicles.

The General Lee – 1969 Dodge Charger

Boss Hogg’s Car – White 1970 Cadillac De Ville Convertible

Daisy’s Car (Season 1 & 2) – Yellow Plymouth Roadrunner. Also possible Dodge Challenger substitution

Dixie (Daisy’s Car Seasons 2-7) – Jeep CJ-7

Uncle Jesse’s Truck – Early 1970s Ford F Series Pickup

Cooter‘s Tow Trucks – Various International, GMC, and Ford Tow Trucks

Police Cars – 1970s Dodge Monaco, Late 1970s Plymouth Fury.

Another notable trait of the show was the number of guest stars who either were big stars, or went on to become big time actors. 70s villains Charles Napier and William Smith. Steven Williams (21 Jump Street), Jonathan Frakes of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, Henry Gibson (Laugh In), Richard Moll (Night Court), Ernie Hudson,  James Avery (Shredder from TMNT), Gerald McRaney, Dick Sargent, Dennis “Mr. Belding” Haskins, Pat Buttram, and many others.

While Hazzard Country Georgia may not actually exist, Train does provide geographical evidence as to where Hazzard County would be on a map if it did. Don’t believe us? Listen to Train’s evidence and you’ll hear why.

Now you know where to find Hazzard County Georgia!

If you’re a 70s kid like Train, an 80s kid like Seth, or even came to love Dukes Of Hazzard after the fact, there is something for you in this edition of Geekville Radio’s Nostalgia Trip. Our goal is that, regardless of your level of fandom, you’ll enjoy this podcast and maybe even learn something about what was arguably the most “Southern” TV show to ever air on television.

As mentioned during the show, Crazy Train has amassed a list of Outlaw Country songs for Spotify, which fit perfectly with the attitude of Dukes Of Hazzard.

Look up our shows on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter, and Crazy Train can be reached on Twitter. Give us a subscribe and let us know! We encourage your feedback!